Rouages: “Supporting the development of projects in life sciences”
Pascal Verdié is a research engineer and head of the chemistry platform Synbio3 platform specializing in the synthesis of peptides and polymers, attached to the Max Mousseron Biomolecules Institute. He supports scientists in their research projects and trains students in synthesis techniques. It's a job he loves, and he talks about it in Rouages, a video series produced by the University of Montpellier. Action!
Balard Chemistry Center. In these long corridors where everything looks the same, each door hides a mystery and a host of questions. How can you tell if this room houses a breeding ground for indestructible arthropods or the biomaterial of tomorrow? As the morning draws to a close, Pascal Verdié reveals his treasure to us with a twinkle in his eye, hidden in a refrigerated cabinet: 4,000 synthesized compounds, characterized and used for biological testing. "They are all referenced with a barcode, all resulting from the team's work over the past thirty years."
Molecular balance
This team is from the Max Mousseron Biomolecules Institute and Synbio3, the platform attached to it, headed by Pascal Verdié. The on-camera interview is over and, although the exercise was carried out brilliantly, the engineer's relief is palpable as he shows us around his little world. "Here you have a liquid chromatography device coupled with mass spectrometry. It allows us to detect and quantify all the natural or synthetic molecules we are going to manipulate. " A skilled communicator, he explains that mass spectrometry works "like a scale, allowing us to determine the molecular mass of the sample we are preparing and thus know whether what we are expecting is present or not."
Researchers, doctoral researchers even industrial doctoral researchers often turn to the Synbio3 platform to synthesize or purify molecules, whether peptides or polymers. "This device, for example, is used for around 20,000 analyses per year. Translating the needs of our partners and collaborators into services is part of my job. Our goal is to provide them with a customized biomolecular object." In this mission, Pascal Verdié is supported by nine other engineers, two work-study students, and student interns. Contract workers may also join them on more specific projects. "This platform brings together professionals, skills, and equipment to support the development of projects in the life sciences."
At the border
Next room: between fume hoods and lab benches, students in lab coats and safety goggles bustle around their test tubes and take advantage of Pascal Verdié's presence to glean advice or share observations. "A large part of my work is dedicated to training. We help them acquire their data and enable them to use the equipment." Every year, around 50 students learn the different techniques of peptide synthesis and spectrophotometry methods to see the effect of molecules on materials or cells."I help train the researchers of tomorrow, I support doctoral students in their projects, and I help them grow scientifically. It's a job where you pass on a lot of knowledge and learn a lot too."
The engineer takes quality transmission very seriously, as evidenced by the various certification initiatives that this Montpellier native has led since the platform's launch in 2007 alongsideProfessor Subra. "We obtained Ibisa (Infrastructures en biologie santé et agronomie)certification in 2013, which was a very important milestone for us."Since then, Synbio3 has joined the ChemBioFrance network and is pursuing ISO 9001 quality certification to professionalize its activities.This is another facet of Pascal Verdié's multifaceted career. "My job straddles several fields: chemistry, biology, technology, and science. The team likes to compare me to Chandler Bingfrom the TV series Friends, because no one else ever knows what he does either."